Damon Lindelof is Scripting ‘Star Trek 2’

Screenwriter Damon Lindelof announced that he was officially getting to work on the script for Star Trek 2, with a Tweet yesterday that his post-Lost vacation was “officially over” and he was is “ready to boldly go.” You gotta love how this kind of news breaks in the age of Twitter, don’t you? ;-)

Lindelof will work alongside Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, who informed TrekMovie last week that they “have a story, and the next phase is to get together and try to destroy it,” as they want to be sure it “stands scrutiny.”

Concerning Lindelof, Kurtzman mentioned that he was “incredibly relieved to have him full-time” now that Lost is over and done with, and that they’ll be “diving in” head-first into the writing process.

Meanwhile, Star Trek director/geeky TV meister J.J. Abrams remains as busy as ever prepping for his next directorial project, Super 8, and also has future production duties on Mission:Impossible 4 and the TV show Undercovers to handle as well.

Although I highly doubt that he will not be formerly announced as the director of Star Trek 2 in the future, Abrams will definitely reunite with his Trek writing duo of Kurtzman and Orci for the sequel, if only as a producer.

L to R: Robert Orci, J.J. Abrams, and Alex Kurtzman

With regards to the plot of Star Trek 2, Kurtzman and Orci agreed that the “big engine of the [sequel’s] narrative [will be] about how does the team – now that they are on their journey – live together as a family?” They also confirmed that the villain would have a more substantial part in the next film, and that they have a “front runner” for who that character might be.

When Orci previously spoke about the sequel, they seemed relatively open to the possibility of using classic Trek baddie Khan in the new film. If nothing else, their most recent statements seem to indicate that the villain could be a more familiar face and not someone new to the Trekverse, a la Nero in the reboot.

Who will the crew of the Enterprise face next?

Finally, there’s the question of what exactly the title will be for the Star Trek sequel. Neither Kurtzman or Orci offered any specific hints – other than to say that it would definitely not be just Star Trek 2. The two did seem to be intrigued by TrekMovie‘s suggestion that they break from tradition and NOT include the words Star Trek in the title – much like The Dark Knight did with the Batman franchise. It is probably safe to say that fans will recognize a Star Trek movie when they see one, regardless of what it’s called.

So what do you think? Who would you like to see as the villain in Star Trek 2? Any thoughts about a creative title for the sequel? Let your voice be heard in the comments section below.

Star Trek 2 is tentatively scheduled for a release in theaters on June 29th, 2012.